The angry fallout from Brazil’s humiliating 7-1 defeat against Germany escalated on Friday when Neymar’s agent labelled coach luiz Felipe Scolari an “old jerk” who is “arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous”.
In an extraordinary personal attack – made just hours before Neymar is due to return to the Brazil training base — Wagner Ribeiro unleashed what appeared to be a deeply sarcastic outburst on Twitter.
Under the heading Six requirements to be Brazilian coach, he wrote: “One — being Portugal coach and winning nothing. Two — going to Chelsea and being sacked the following day. Three — going to coach in Uzbekistan. Four — returning to Brazil, taking over a big team (Palmeiras) and getting them relegated to the second division. Five — leaving the club 56 days before the end of the Brasileirao season to ‘escape’ the relegation. Six — being an old jerk, arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous.” Neymar later distanced himself from his agent’s comments but stopped short of endorsing Scolari to carry on.
Scolari, who actually lasted seven months at Chelsea and left Palmeiras before their relegation, is widely expected to stand down as Brazil manager after Saturday’s third-place play-off against Holland.
Corinthians coach Tite, Sao Paulo’s Muricy Ramalho and former Brazil manager Vanderlei luxemburgo are in contention to succeed Scolari, amid pressure for a major overhaul in Brazilian football.Sports minister Aldo Rebelo called on Thursday for an inquiry following Brazil’s worst ever defeat.
“It’s a terrible blemish for Brazilian football because against Germany we have played 12 times and lost only four times,” said Rebelo. “We must analyse the root causes of this disaster, learn the lessons and try to correct them so this doesn’t happen again, so that Brazil can regain its status in world football.”
Scolari has attempted to defend his overall record since Tuesday’s defeat, pointing out his past success in winning the World Cup of 2002 and how Brazil had won 19 of 28 games since he returned as national manager in 2012.
Neymar was visited by club doctors from Barcelona earlier this week to assess the fractured vertebrae that ruled him out of the tournament, and has been cleared to attend Saturday’s match in Brasilia against Holland. Scolari has stressed that it is vital for Brazil to bounce back, while Dutch coach louis van Gaal has said that it is wrong for Fifa to even stage a third-place play-off.